A Defense Mechanism
by TrueRomantic
Summary: Tony and Ziva have been flirting and teasing each other since the day they met. Now that Ziva's back from Somalia, neither knows how to act. With Tony's teasing becoming cruel, they both must find out how to repair their relationship before it's too late.


Disclaimer: I own Season 1 and Season 6 of NCIS on DVD. I'm hoping to own Season 3, Season 4, Season 5, and Season 2 soon, in that order. But I do not own the actual show NCIS. If I did, Tony wouldn't be teasing Ziva with such mean words lately.

A/N: So this is my first attempt at posting an NCIS fic. I started another one, but it's going to be a huuuuggggeeee project, so I probably won't do anything with that for awhile yet. And I've started a couple of other ideas, but they haven't gotten far.

I'm a college junior majoring in elementary education, so life is hectic. This particular story has two chapters so far, and I'm hoping to get some more written soon. I'm thinking it will have no more than 10 chapters, if that much. It's kind of my way to justify the things Tony has been saying to Ziva lately. I know he's always teased her, but he seems to be harsh lately, almost cruel, with some of the things he's said.

Also, I'm saying this is Romance, but there will be some angst in it. But as my penname says, I'm all for romance. Any angst isn't going to last long at all, so I don't think it's really all that important in listing as a genre.

Spoilers: This takes place in Season 7, sometime after _Endgame_. I'm thinking the night after, actually. I mention things that have happened pretty much all of Season 7, so if you haven't seen it and don't want to be spoiled, leave now.

* * *

After finishing her paperwork, Ziva had gone home for the night. She had left the office with every intention of finishing her Citizenship paperwork and to study some more for her tests away from Tony and his teasing and remarks about her becoming a citizen. She had thought he would be happy for her or supportive; never had she thought he would tell her he did not think she should become an American.

She had followed him into the men's restroom weeks ago; apologizing and explaining her actions and words from over three months earlier. He had accepted, even seemed to understand, and she had thought they would start to get back the partnership and friendship that had cracked when he had gone undercover for Jenny and broken when she did not tell him about Michael or trust him to have her back. He had been excited when he learned she quit Mossad, caring when he found out what had happened after his plane had left Tel Aviv, and thrilled when she officially became an NCIS Agent. She had assumed, apparently wrongly, that he would be just as thrilled and happy for her to become a US Citizen, destroying the chance that she could be sent back to Israel on the whims of her father or Mossad.

Initially, things had been better, almost how they had been before everything between them started to crack. He teased her, she teased him back, they pulled pranks on McGee, and they made everyone slightly uncomfortable with their sexual innuendos and borderline flirting. But then he started calling her Probie. After she dyed his teeth blue, he had stopped calling her Probie as often, even calling her Sweetcheeks on occasion. But then he found out about her going through the citizenship process, and his teasing became rude, even cruel. She had no idea what upset him about her desire to make her stay in the US even more permanent, and she was not about to ask him. His comments about her being a heartless assassin like Kai had hit closer to home than she had expected them to. She had managed to cover her hurt quickly though, and she hoped he had only been lashing out about whatever it was she had done to make him angry, using something he knew would make her upset. She was going to endure it all until she could figure out what had changed, and then she was going to try to fix it. She would fix it, because if she had learned nothing else in her months of captivity, she had learned that her true friends were at NCIS, and her true home was in the United States. She had also realized that she could not count on Tony to fix everything between them, not after what she had said and done to him after Michael's death. No, any problems between them were her job to fix, if he would let her.

'Why does he not wish me to have a permanent place here? Perhaps he has only peen pretending to be happy about my return, assuming I would eventually leave. But then why did he seek revenge when he thought I had died? I had thought that meant he would at least not be upset if I were to return to NCIS. Monday I will talk to him, even if we must use the men's room or Gibbs' office to have privacy,' she thought as she turned off her lights and went to bed.

* * *

A/N: So I'm planning to post the second chapter of this soon. It will be from Tony's POV. I haven't yet written anything past the second chapter. I'm hoping to use Thanksgiving break (during which I'll be without internet access from Tuesday morning until Sunday night) to write up at least two more chapters. Please tell me what you think, and if you all would even be interested in reading more of this. Granted, I'll be posting more regardless, but it'd make me feel better to know people actually _want_ to read it, lol.


End file.
